Monday, October 01, 2012

Atheists Sue: No Ten Commandments on Church Land

The Connellsville Area School District in Fayette County, Pennsylvania had already acquiesced to threats by Wisconsin atheists to remove a Ten Commandments monument from public property, but when the neighboring church accepted the monument, the Freedom From Religion Foundation sued the school because students may walk past the nearby monument and READ IT!

A school attorney declined comment, but residents of the district, about 30 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, have asked the district to fight requests to remove the monument. The nearby Connellsville Church of God has offered to prominently display the five-foot monument and light it up at night.

However, the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court also seeks to prevent the monument from being displayed by the church because it's next to some school athletic fields and might be seen by students.

On behalf of an unnamed parent and student, the Wisconsin-based Freedom from Religion Foundation filed the lawsuit against the Connellsville Area School District on Thursday in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh.

They want a judge to order it removed from school property and to prohibit its placement on the grounds of a nearby church.

“Upon information and belief, these proposed arrangements [to move the monument to church property] are intended by the district to continue to bring district students in contact with the Ten Commandments monument,” [the atheists' attorney Marcus B.] Schneider wrote.

The student plaintiff in the suit is identified as Doe 4, and her mother is identified as Doe 5.

Does 1-3 are named in suit filed earlier this month against the New Kensington-Arnold School District, also over a Ten Commandments monument donated by the Fraternal Order of the Eagles, and displayed outside of a school in the district. Doe 5 is also identified as a resident and taxpayer in the city of Connellsville, and a member of FFRF. Doe 5 is an atheist and her daughter is non-religious, according to the suit.

Connellsville Area School District had the 6-foot-tall monument in its current location since 1957, when it was donated by the Connellsville Aerie No. 493 Fraternal Order of the Eagles.

The Freedom from Religion Foundation asked a federal judge in Pittsburgh to declare as unconstitutional the display outside the front entrance of Valley High School in New Kensington.

The Madison, Wis.-based foundation said the marker serves to advance religion and the tenets of a particular faith. The lawsuit said a March letter to the school’s superintendent did not generate an official response, and that local clergy had a rally during school hours to support retaining the monument.

The lawsuit requests an injunction ordering its removal, as well as the payment of damages and legal fees.